Identification

Summary

Wood-wrens (Henicorhina) are small wrens with very short tails, dark brown upperparts, white or light gray underparts, and black and white streaks on the side of the face. Bar-winged Wood-Wren is a large Henicorhina; its plumage is typical of the genus, but Bar-winged is distinctive because of the white tips to the wing coverts, forming distinct wing bars.

Similar Species

Bar-winged Wood-Wren is sympatric with the widely distributed Gray-breasted Wood-Wren (Henicorhina leucophrys). Bar-winged is larger and longer-billed than Gray-breasted, but is most readily distinguished by the white tips to the wing coverts, forming the white bars on the wing for which the species takes its name. Additionally, Bar-winged Wood-Wren has dingier brown upperparts and whiter underparts, with some gray mottling at the sides of the breast; the sides of the breast of Bar-winged also usually are streaked, this streaking often extending across the center of breast as well. Finally, the two species differ in habitat, with Bar-winged confined to stunted forest on nutrient poor soils, and Gray-breasted Wood-Wren widespread in adjacent taller forest.

Vocalizations

The song of Bar-winged Wood-Wren is described as "a mellow, whistled warbling phrase, usually less complex than Gray-breasted Wood-Wren [Henicorhina leucophrys] (but more so than White-breasted [Henicorhina leucosticta]), and never (?) with high introductory notes. For example: WEEwer-wurdleWEE?" (Lane, in Schulenberg et al. 2007).

A more complete description of the song of Bar-winged Wood-Wren is provided by Fitzpatrick et al. (1977). The song typically consists of a motif (a rich, warbled phrase) that is repeated in rapid succession for up to 5 s. Usually only a single motif is used in an individual song, but occasional songs include a shift from one repeated phrase to a second one. Two general classes of motifs are used. The standard motif, dubbed Type A by Fitzpatrick et al. (1977), are repeated in rapid succession; this song is similar to that of Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, but is higher and faster with a more ringing quality and more frequent trills. The second type of motifs (Type B) are given only singly or in pairs, and are longer phrases than the type A motifs, beginning or terminating with a trill of varying rapidity. Type B motifs were given after tape playback.

The song of Bar-winged Wood-Wren frequently is given as a duet by a pair (Fitzpatrick et al. 1977, Lane in Schulenberg 2007).

Calls include "a dry tchut, sometimes given in a chattered series, not as rich as call of Gray-breasted [and] a squeaky wink" (Lane, in Schulenberg et al. 2007), and "a rapid, high-pitched chatter when alarmed" (Fitzpatrick et al. 1977).

Immature: Generally brownish, lacking the crisp black and white features of the plumage of the adult. The white of the underparts is reduced, with a few brown feathers scattered throughout the lower breast and belly. The facial pattern is only rudimentary, with the auriculars mottled brown and whitish. The supercilium is present only behind the eye, and lacks the black upper margin. The lores are dark gray, not white. On the wings, only the alula and a few primary coverts are tipped white. The remaining coverts are black, edged and tipped buffy brown. The outer three primaries are edged white as in the adult, however. This plumage was described by Fitzpatrick et al. (1977) as the juvenile plumage, based on a single specimen, but Krabbe and Sornonza (1994: 59) suggest that this specimen may be "partly in its first basic plumage".

Juvenile: Supercilium only faintly indicated. Cheeks dark. Underparts dark; feathers of throat, breast and belly dark gray with dark brown tips, the size of these brown tips increasing posteriorly. Sides of breast and flanks dark brown. Belly and undertail coverts dark cinnamon. No wing bars, but distal edges of the outer webs of the two alula feathers are white. (This description from Krabbe and Sornoza 1994.)

Measurements

Molts

Geographic Variation

Monotypic.

Systematics

Henicorhina leucoptera was discovered only as recently as 1976, and was described in 1977 (Fitzpatrick et al. 1977). The type locality is the Cordillera del Condor, above San José de Lourdes, Cajarmarca, Peru, 5º 02'S, 78º 51'W, elevation approximately 2,200 m. The type specimen is in the American Museum of Natural History (Fitzpatrick et al. 1977).

Fitzpatrick et al. (1977) suggested that leucoptera was most closely related to Henicorhina leucophrys (Gray-breasted Wood-Wren), based on similarities in morphology, behavior, and habitat associations. Somewhat surprising, then, was the result of survey of genetic variation across Henicorhina, based on a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data (Dingle et al. 2006). Dingle et al. (2006) recovered two major clades of haplotypes in Henicorhina, one corresponding to leucophrys, and the other to haplotypes from leucoptera and Henicorhina leucosticta (White-breasted Wood-Wren). Within the leucosticta-leucoptera clade, leucoptera was sister to two samples of leucosticta from the Chocó; all other samples of leucosticta, from Central America and from the east slope of the Andes, formed a monophyletic clade.